Today, I had the pleasure of guiding Vince, and his seventeen year old son Austin from North Carolina. Vince is an experienced angler, but as I recall, Austin has only been on one other fishing trip, when he caught a barracuda. No barracudas will be sought after on this river smallie trip, but there will be an attempt made to have Austin catch his first smallmouth. It was only a few days earlier, that the Little Pigeon had risen eight feet from a surprise couple inches of rain that had fallen in the watershed. The river was a little high, which allowed me access to water further upstream, that I can only occasionally fish. The water was stained, but fishable. This may be River Smallie Adventures, but the fish don’t know any differently, and with that said, the first fish of the day that Vince caught was a nice seventeen inch largemouth. The smallies had to step up their game, and very shortly after that, Vince landed an eighteen incher. He and Austin caught another six smallies in that first spot, which included two seventeen and another eighteen inch fish. From there, I decided to make a move upstream, and explore some water, that sometimes fishes better, when the river is a little high and stained. We spent some time working over a few holes, that had been producing for the past couple of weeks. They ended catching seven more smallies, including two really nice fish that were just shy of that nineteen inch mark. The big fish of the day, was one of those seven, which now has become a frequent visitor in this boat. I’ll explain. Back on April 10, Greg from Knoxville, caught a twenty and three quarter inch smallie that weighed three pounds and eight ounces. Two days later, on April 12, Robert caught the same fish in the same hole. Today, we were fishing that same spot, when Vince set the hook on a big smallie. It immediately erupted from the water after the set. Vince quickly handed the rod to Austin, who did a great job of playing, and eventually landing this trophy smallmouth. As soon as I and netted, and lifted up the smallie, I told them I “know” this fish. I said that even though it appears that it should weigh between four and a half or five pounds, it is only going to weigh three pounds and eight ounces. And with that said, I weighed the fish. It was right on the numbers at three pounds and eight ounces. I shared with them that this was the third time this fish has been caught by my clients, in the same hole over the past two weeks. It might be a thin fish, but it sure is a game fish. No pun intended. From there, I decided to make my way downstream to finish the last hour of the day, from where we started the trip, to catch that evening bite. We weren’t there long before Vince hooked up. I could tell that the fish was not fighting as aggressively as a smallmouth, and was digging deep. When it finally appeared, I was surprised to see that it was a nice walleye. It was eighteen and half inches long. I told them that we occasionally catch them here in this spot, but it is a one fish event. In all the years, that I have been fishing this location, when you catch a walleye here, it will be the only one you will catch. After making that declaration, Vince caught a seventeen and half smallie, followed by another fish that was once again digging deep, and not fighting like your classic smallie. As I peered down into the water, and finally saw color, I was surprised to see that familiar walleye shape. So much for me being some kind of Guru, and proclaiming how many fish of a certain species you will be limited to catching in a specific spot. Vince and Austin caught a total of nineteen fish. Sixteen of those were smallies. Ten of those fish, were between sixteen and twenty and three quarter inches in length. When we arrived back at the ramp, Vince said that except for that one saltwater trip, he had never used a guide before, and wasn’t sure what to expect. I said that I was glad he told me that after the trip, or the pressure really would have been on me to produce. All joking aside, it was a good day on the water. I was happy that Austin caught his first smallie, and that he and his Dad were there together to share the experience as father and son.
River Smallie Adventures Fishing Report April 24, 2019
